Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Just finished building this out with an i7 920, and am really pleased so far. It's going to be a monster gaming machine, and runs Ubuntu (64 bit) with no issues. On-board RAID card is nice, though you'll want to ditch the stock CPU cooler if you plan on doing any overclocking.
A few things to be aware of:
- There are some issues with component layout. Right under that big heat sink near the chip is where they decided to place both CPU fan and board power sockets. It's a really bad place, as it's hard to get to and places cables near a component known to get hot.
- The audio plug is between the two PCIe slots, which will be a cable routing challenge if you're doing SLI with monster video cards.
- Not a big fan of how they did the 9 SATA ports (10 really, if you count the eSata port on the backplane). Sata 0-5 are run off the Intel southbridge, and SATA 6-7 and 8-9 are run off separate chipsests. SATA 7 is a port in the middle of the board, designed to drive a port on the front of the case. Anyway, you can only RAID each of the chipsets, meaning any big array you build will need to run off 0-5. There are also pauses during start for each chipset, which is annoying.
- A minor annoyance, but this board takes a while to POST (~20s).
Some things I really like:
- There are power, reset, and CMOS reset switches on the board, so you don't need to make case hookups while you debug stuff.
- There a 2-digit LED on the board, which shows error codes for anything wrong during POST, then turns into a CPU temperature monitor.
- Overclocker's dream. Control over all multipliers voltages needed to take your chip well past 4GHz.
My rig:
This board, with i7 920 (modest overclock to 3.5GHz)
Zalman CNPS9900LED Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler, with Arctic Silver 5
CORSAIR XMS3 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
GIGABYTE GV-N275UD-896I GeForce GTX 275 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Video
3 x Western Digital RE3 WD1002FBYS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
(2 running in RAID1, the spare running as a scratch).
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Very nice!
Click Here to see more reviews about: EVGA 132-BL-E758-TR x58 SLI Mainboard with Intel LGA 1366 chipset
The nForce x58 SLI Motherboard from EVGA is designed for the win. With VDroop control for maximum stability while overclocking, 100% solid state capacitors, Onboard Clear CMOS, Onboard power and reset buttons, E-LEET tuning ability, and onboard Debug LED's for current temperature reading, your system will be able to handle the latest games, high definition digital video, and Windows Vista with aplomb. The features of the 132-BL-E758-TR include support for Intel Core I7 processors, Triple Channel DDR3 up to 1600MHz, Enthusiast Layout supporting 2-way SLI, 3-way SLI, and Crossfire X, 10 SATA II 3 GB ports with 1 e-SATA, 2 GB ethernet ports, 8 channel audio, support for up to 12 USB 2.0 ports, and 2 1394 slots.Built for Microsoft Vista with Intel LGA1366 chipset and innovative chipset fan with sideways exhaust. Product comes with a 1 year warranty and a second year free if registered at www.evga.com within 30 days of purchase.
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